PILECI IZBORI / CHICKEN ELECTIONS
DIRECTOR: GORAN RADOVANOVIC
SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO 2005
48 MIN / BETA SP, COLOR + B&W, OV w. engl. ST

Caligari: 06.04. / 2.30 pm
Bellevue-Saal: 07.04. / 8.00 pm

DIRECTOR:
Goran Radovanovic

SCREENPLAY:
Goran Radovanovic

CAMERA:
Radoslav Vladic

EDITOR:
Stevan Maric

MUSIC:
Nemanja Mosurovic

PRODUCER:
Goran Radovanovic

PRODUCTION:
Nama Film, Belgrad
Tel.: 00381 - 11 / 260 37 62
Fax: 00381 - 11 / 260 37 62
e-mail: princip@eunet.yu

DISTRIBUTION:
Doc & Co, Paris
Tel.: 0033 - 1 / 427 789 65
Fax: 0033 - 1 / 427 736 56
e-mail: catleclef@doc-co.com

The documentary by Goran Radovanovic opens with black-and-white footage of reports on the commissioning of Serbia’s first mobile-telephony network, celebrated at the time as symbolic of progress and prosperity. Cut to the present day: a small village somewhere in rural Serbia. Mobiles are no longer anything special, but otherwise little has changed in the region. Reports on the upcoming parliamentary elections drone from the radio while the local traffic policeman tries to teach his old grandmother how to use a mobile phone. Glimpses of this old lady, who lives a lonely life on a remote farm, become the red thread running through the film with its snapshot-like portraits of everyday life in the tiny community. There’s the grocer’s shop the men visit to talk about money and politics. Or the postman who delivers on his moped the ballot papers for the forthcoming elections. The policeman who stops cars as he fancies. The school with a handful of children in the overlarge classroom. The pub in which something approaching merriment occasionally arises. And the recurrent visits to the old peasant woman: Her matter-of-fact inventory of aches and pains delivered to the local doctor, her worries about increasing thievery confided in the village priest. He at least has a simple explanation to offer: “That’s the way we Serbs are.” Doing without any kind of voice-over commentary for a film which alternates between cheerful and melancholic, Radovanovic observes life in a village where a change of government is little more than a far-away news item, but where the people remain hopeful that change will come.

GORAN RADOVANOVIC
Born in 1957 in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro.
Goran Radovanovic studied history of art in Belgrade. He worked as a film critic and scriptwriter and directed 14 films, mostly documentaries. In 1996 he founded his independent production company Nama Film. He lectured at serveral universities in the U.S. and at dffb. His documentary PILECI IZBORI was awarded Best National Film and won the FIPRESCI Award at the International Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival 2005.

FILMOGRAPHY (SELECTION):
1994 Columba Urbica
2000 Moja domovina – za unutrasnju upotrebu / My country – for internal use only
2000 Maketa / Model House (short documentary)
2001 Otpor: The Fight to Save Serbia
2003 Casting
2005 Pileci izbori / Chicken Elections